Mushroom Bread, 豆沙包, 菠蘿包, recipe

Hey Hey Hey, everyone. I am so sorry that I haven't been posting for a while. I have been really busy with school, and preparing for the SATs. The SAT is this weekend and I'm really nervous. I"ve been studying really hard for this test. I really hope it pays off. Well, enough about that. I'm here to post recipes for all of you people to make to eat.
Well..these breads look pretty delicious, don't they?   我做豆沙包, 菠蘿包, 很好吃。：）用 了五个小时。I know. 5 hours to make bread is a very long time. That's because I made it all by hand. I did not use a bread machine, well, because I don't have one. My family is very old fashioned. It gave me a good arm workout though. They taste pretty good, but they don't look as pretty as the ones from the Chinese bakery. I'm still working on it, but it has come a long way since I first baked this kind of bread. I'm too embarrassed to post the picture of my first attempt at making bread. So, here's the recipe.

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup warm milk
• 2 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup salted butter, melted
• 2 eggs, whisked
• 7-8 cups bread flour

Directions: 

1. In a huge bowl, combine the warm milk, warm water and sugar. Add the yeast, and let it poof for 10 minutes. Make sure the water and milk aren't too hot, or else it may kill the yeast.  
2. Next, add the eggs and the butter. Mix it all together. 
3. While mixing, add the flour one cup at a time. Once it has come together, start kneading the dough until it has become elastic, but still a bit sticky. Cover, and let it rise for one hour. 
4. If you want to, just add all the ingredients into a bread machine according to the manufacture's instructions. 
5. After an hour, divide the dough into 36 pieces, and cover, and let it rise for an hour. Do the same thing when the dough is done in the bread machine. 
6. After, you can use any filling you want. You can use red bean paste, BBQ pork, lotus seed paste, mung paste, custard, sausage or hot dog and basically anything you want. First, you take the dough, and then flatten it on your palm. Put a spoonful of filling inside and then take the edges and squeeze them together to cover the filling. If you are making hot dog buns (pig blankets), take the dough, and roll it into a long string. Then, you wrap it around the hot dog. Cover and let it rise for an half hour or so. 
7. Preheat the oven to 350 F. If you are making the 菠蘿包 (pineapple buns), you add the topping right before you bake the bread (the recipe for the topping are under the pictures). The 菠蘿包 takes longer to bake than the rest of the bread. The red bean, BBQ pork bread takes about 13-15 minutes to bake. If the hot dog is raw, then it will take about 15 minutes to bake. The 菠蘿包 will take about 20 minutes. Just use your eye and judgment.

 The Pineapple Bun Topping recipe

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sugar (or a little bit more)
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

Directions: 

1. Beat the egg and sugar too. Add the egg yolk, baking soda, and the milk. Combine the flour and baking powder and then add it to the rest of the ingredients. Refrigerate for an hour before use.  

Mushroom Bread

So before I tell you guys how to make mushroom bread, I warn you guys to make small mushroom bread, not a huge one. I learned my lesson. A couple days ago, I wanted to make a huge mushroom bread for my history class, because we are learning about the Cold War. The bread was suppose to look like a mushroom cloud formed by an explosion. The bread did grow, but I when I tried taking the bread out after baking it, the inside was under baked while the outside was all the way cooked. It was a very sad attempt. The huge mushroom bread did not look like a mushroom either. I still got points, but I think it was out of pity. -_-. At least I received some credit.
I'm happy that I used the leftover dough to make small mushroom bread. Those turned out perfectly. The only difference is that you let the dough rise in a muffin pan instead. The baking time is 15 min. When you take them out, use a plastic knife first to go around the edges. Then, you can take them out. It makes it easier. Here are some pictures: 

My failed attempt at making a huge mushroom bread. -_-

The mini ones that just came out of the oven.

How they look when you take them out.

Enjoy this bread. :)

新年快乐！发糕recipe 很好吃。 ：）

恭喜发财!今天是中国的新年. It's the year of the 兔. It's so exciting! What's more exciting is that this is my first blog post! Welcome to my blog, Hevil's Special Delights! I've decided to start my blog on the New Year, just for the symbolism. For one thing, it's a New Year.  New blog, on a New Year. Yes, I know it seems strange, but that's me. It's also easy for me to start off the blog by posting one of my favorite Chinese New Year desserts. Well, they are more like sweets, but let's call them desserts. Before I get into that, I'd like to introduce myself.

My name is Helen, and I am an ABC, American Born Chinese. Now, you maybe have an idea why my blog name has Hevil in it. It's a nickname my cousin gave me.I love singing. I play the cello, violin, and a little bit of viola and string bass. I am in my school orchestra. Recently, I have started learning to play the saxophone. It's quite different and, bit challenging for me. I am also taking Spanish. Be prepared for posts that are randomly in Chinese and Spanish. I love both of these cultures and I'd like to post some recipes about them.                                     
  So, where was I? I got sidetracked. Oh yeah. How did I get into baking and making food? Well, it started 2 years ago, when I was looking through yahoo news, and I happened to find a video about making a clone of a Twinkie. I went to that website, printed out some recipes, and I decided to try baking some chocolate chip cookies from a recipe I found there. That's how I started baking, and that's when my love of baking began. I love baking foods and have other people enjoy eating them. It makes both people happy. Just like how my family loves eating the food I bake, and I love that they enjoy it.                    

    I am writing this as my mom is preparing the first meal of the New Year. Usually, on the New Year, the family gets together and the first meal doesn't contain any meat. It's vegetarian. Besides that, red envelopes are handed out to the children (money!). There are sweet treats that we can eat also. One of my favorites are the Prosperity Cupcakes. They are steamed cupcakes and they have a flower look to them. These cupcakes have "petals". Here's a picture:

So, as you can see, there are "petals". The more the petals have blossomed, the more prosperous you will be and the more wealth you will obtain in the New Year. 

    Earlier today, I steamed some of these 发糕, and they are quite delicious, if I say so myself. My little brother loves them. He always says, " I wish I can eat all of them." He loves eating sweets, which is typical for a young child. 
Finally, here's the recipe. I got this recipe from my aunt two years ago at one of the family gatherings. I modified the recipe to suit the tastes of my brother and sister. So, here it is. I hope you guys enjoy it. 

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix (18.25 oz)  any other flavor is fine  
• 1 cup Glutinous Rice flour 糯米粉
• 1 cup Rice Flour 米粉  
• 1 1/4  3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

 
Directions

1. In a mixing bowl,  combine the cake mix, sugar and both the rice flours. 
2. Next, mix in the water. oil and eggs.  
3. Boil water in a wok or steamer.
4. Fill the cupcake pans. 
5. Once the water has boiled, put the pan into the steamer or wok, cover it, and steam for 15 minutes. Once 15 minutes has gone by, take the lid off. 
6. Take it out of the wok, take out the cupcakes, and repeat until all the batter is gone. Wait until the cupcakes cool down before eating them. Enjoy! There is no need for frosting. :) 

If you want to steam them in a round cake pan, grease the pan, and steam for 30-35 min.